Trump announces new impeachment legal team

The former president's trial is scheduled to start the week of Feb. 8.

Last Updated: March 24, 2021, 12:17 AM EDT

This is Day 12 of the administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Top headlines:

Here is how events are unfolding. All times Eastern.
Jan 28, 2021, 11:33 AM EST

McCarthy to meet with Trump in Florida amid intraparty feud

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is traveling to Mar-a-Lago Thursday to meet with former President Donald Trump amid Republican Party infighting in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and Trump's second impeachment.

On Wednesday, McCarthy implored GOP colleagues on a conference call to stop attacking each other and to focus on countering the agenda from Democrats and Biden, a person familiar with his remarks confirmed to ABC News.

"Cut that crap out," he said of the intraparty attacks. “If you’re not focused on what you’re doing and what the Democrats are doing wrong, and you’re focused on talking about one another, I’m not putting up with that anymore.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy speaks during the impeachment debate on the House floor, Jan. 13, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol.
ABC News

Some conservatives are threatening to back a primary challenger against No. 3 House Republican Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and nine other Republicans who backed Trump's impeachment. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is traveling to Wyoming Thursday to rally against her, and other far-right members of the conference want her removed from party leadership.

McCarthy is expected to confront the issue at a conference meeting next week, as he also works to mend his relationship with Trump. Although McCarthy did not join the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, he said in his floor remarks at the time, “The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters.”

-ABC News' Katherine Faulders and Benjamin Siegel

Jan 28, 2021, 11:27 AM EST

Schumer says Senate will move on COVID-19 relief next week

In line with the priorities of the Biden administration, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in his floor remarks Thursday said Democrats will begin moving forward on COVID-19 relief next week -- with or without their Republican colleagues.  

"If our Republican colleagues decide to oppose this urgent and necessary legislation we will have to move forward with out them," Schumer said. "We have a responsibility to help the American people fast. The Senate will begin that work next week." 

Sen. Chuck Schumer speaks on the floor of the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C., Jan. 22, 2021.
Senate Television via ABC News

Schumer said earlier this week that Democrats should be prepared to vote on a budget resolution next week -- the first step on moving forward with budget reconciliation, which could allow Democrats to pass some COVID-19 priorities without Republican support.

"The dangers of undershooting our response are far greater than overshooting," Schumer added.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

Jan 28, 2021, 10:22 AM EST

Biden to tackle health care as bipartisan duo looks to censure Trump

Biden will tackle the issue of health care on Thursday with two executive actions -- one aimed at expanding enrollment for the Affordable Care Act amid the coronavirus pandemic and another that addresses reproductive health, according to the White House.

The president is expected to sign an executive order that will open a three-month enrollment period from Feb. 15 to May 15, allowing more Americans to sign up for health care as COVID-19 continues to engulf the country.

President Joe Biden signs an executive order after speaking about his administration's plans to strengthen American manufacturing as Vice President Kamala Harris listens at the White House in Washington, D.C., Jan. 25, 2021.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

He will address reproductive health in a presidential memorandum, rescinding the Mexico City Policy, often referred to as the "global gag rule," which was expanded under former President Donald Trump and blocks U.S. funding to international nonprofits that provide counseling or referrals for abortion, review Title X funding on abortion and remove the country's endorsement of the Geneva Consensus, a nonbinding declaration signed by countries opposed to abortion and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2020.

The White House is also working to push Biden's COVID-19 relief package and pushing back on a reporting the administration is considering splitting the proposal in two with the thinking a smaller package could gain more bipartisan support.

“We are engaging with a range of voices—that’s democracy in action—we aren’t looking to split a package in two," White House press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted Thursday morning.

Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, with the outcome of Trump’s impeachment trial all but certain to end without a conviction, a bipartisan Senate duo is working on a resolution that for the second time in history would censure a U.S. president -- and this one could potentially bar Trump from office by including elements of the 14th Amendment. The resolution might force Republicans to take a position on Trump’s actions rather than focusing on procedural arguments, but it's unclear how much momentum it might gain with the trial set to begin Feb. 9 and with Biden hoping to push his priorities through the chamber.

Jan 28, 2021, 9:46 AM EST

White House sends 1st second gentleman schedule in US history

The office of the vice president has released the first-ever “Daily Guidance for the Second Gentleman.”

It’s the first-ever public schedule for an American vice president’s husband because Doug Emhoff is the nation's first ever second gentleman, tacking onto Harris' historic first as the highest-ranking woman in U.S. government. However, Emhoff has participated in some events with Harris, which have been noted on her schedule as vice president.

Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff smile while standing on stage during the Democratic National Convention at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del. on Aug. 19, 2020.
Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE

The event on Emhoff's schedule for Thursday is a 3 p.m. visit to a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit “focused on food security and economic opportunity.”

In another historic first, the nation's first second gentlemen is also the first Jewish spouse, of any gender, for the presidency or vice presidency.

-ABC News' Ben Gittleson

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